News, views and opinions from the one kiwi expat sent to New York University on a Fulbright Scholarship to study his masters of law.

Thursday, May 04, 2006

Exam Stress Causes Coffee Meltdown...

You have to see to believe how seriously people take exams at this university. The NYU Law Library goes into extended hours, staying open until 2am - and this is because people stay there unil then. 1Ls in particular start outlining for their exams weeks before classes finish; I've seen them working in the lobby of my dorm at 2am on a Friday/Saturday night. I heard that the University had to ban lecturers setting 72-hour take-home exams because people would spend the entire 72 hours working on them without adequate food, water or sleep.

Don't get me wrong, I take my exams seriously, but honestly...

A colleague from Fordham University Law School recently started blogging about the effects of exams on A-type personality law students: FishWatch2006. Take a look for a rundown of, and reaction to, a particularly nasty incident driven by exam stress and caffeine overload.

Luckily and NYU the librarians allow coffee into our library (if it's in spill-proof cup), so hopefully the risk of similar meltdowns here is lower. Having said that, people smuggle their sugar-loaded study-fixes into the library along with their spill-proof coffee, so the mix of stress, caffeine and sugar could get pretty volatile in the last few days of the exam period. (Apparently one Cinnabon, something that makes a regular appearance, has the recommended daily caloric intake for the average adult female...)